10.2190/XQLK-N2KJ-N7M9-5J75 XQLKN2KJN7M95J75 1 Residential Abandonment: Its Early Stages of Development 1 14 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 XQLKN2KJN7M95J75.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=XQLKN2KJN7M95J75 1 Sandra Featherman Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania Residential housing abandonment begins not as a result of a single cause such as neighborhood racial transition, or intentional underinvestment by absentee landlords, but rather as the result of a confluence of events, including amongst them a slowed down market in the area, an inexperienced or unwilling landlord, a less marketable property than the average in the area, and serious vandalization of the property during a period in which it is vacant. It is the act of vandalism, and the owner's fear of revandalization, which leads to the withdrawal of maintenance from such a property. S. Featherman, Early Abandonment: A Profile of Residential Abandonment In Its Early Stages, <i>Papers in Urban Problems #1</i>, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, March 1976. <i>The National Survey of Housing Abandonment</i>, The National Urban League, 1971. R. E. Park, E. W. Burgess and R. D. McKenzie, <i>The City</i>, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1928. W. G. Grigsby and L. Rosenburg, <i>Urban Housing Policy</i>, Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University, A. P. S. Publications, N. Y., 1974. <i>U. S. Census of Housing and Population, 1970, Philadelphia SMSA.</i>